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Digital Portfolio and Written Assignment Task 1. Expected Entries into the Portfolio Task 1.1- One Minute Paper

For 1-minute paper as well as my knowledge of what IS since its birth, there are a lot of suggestions and theories. To determine and know it, we first determine the following concepts: System or then data as well as put them together to see how various components are related to each other. A system is the interaction of set of mutually independent components, forming a meaningful or helpful whole. On other hand, data is raw information that is truly organized for a particular task as well as function, and information must be provided in an important and relevant manner for better decision-making and understanding (Buyya and Wu, 2015). This feature of data brings better value to entire IS itself, because accurate data affects decision-making and outcomes as well?

For information to be helpful, it should have certain characteristic, for example accessibility when necessary, it should be applicable to particular needs and everyday jobs, or it should be correct. The information should be easy to understand and provide to the right people to take positive and successful actions, like all other things in world, data has life cycle. The life cycle starts with creation or termination; moreover the life cycle is the available of life.

Therefore, combining the two (system and information) together forms an IS. The easy justification is that an IS are the process through which raw information is stored, captured, generated / extracted moreover shared, or then use for helpful decision-making and for specific/specific tasks (Dubin, 1978). Of course, this process is complete by people. The procedure of IS includes: capture, storage, use, sharing, maintenance, protection, archiving and destruction. There are three academic theories in information systems which are quantitative hermeneutics and positivism,, which is quality; or critical IS, which concentrate on feminists, environmentalists, as well as critical social theorists. Information systems also have legal aspects. For example, most organizations restrict information flow and defend their privacy and data. I also chose a link to YouTube, which represents the idea in the video lecture of this course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlcolUHMnh0

Task 1.2- Theoretical Paper 1

This theoretical research article was written by Dr. Ron WEBER in Journal of Information Systems Association. The title is “Evaluation and Development Theory in Information Systems”. The author of this article clearly points out and provides a framework and standards that enable users to learn how to assess theoretical quality, especially in the discipline of information systems.  The author exactly believe that by having very clear, good-quality theoretical research, scholars can improve their information in the field (Weber, 2012), as many other scholars have said and written. That is, in order to be capable to show the framework, the author divides paper into five components: first, explain the ontology structure that can define the theoretical configuration, and then provide an evaluation framework. Secondly, try to present an explanation for the term theory. Third, explain the standards and framework of evaluation theory. Fourth, how to relate frameworks and standards to evaluate IS theory. After reading the theoretical paper many times, I found it difficult to understate at first, but in the end it became meaningful. The abstract of the article and the introduction is quite representative, and has explained the structure and purpose of the full text well. Although other authors support this article, it is not easy to check and specifically check whether the page is undefined (Weber, 2012). In this paper only part of the content is not the case.

I checked the references and found no inaccurate description of the work of the authors mentioned in the paper and indicated before all references and discussions that the topic is relevant. At a same time, I should admit that I did not find some errors in the explanation of facts. Additionally, the paper is described in detail moreover without some unwanted or under-written graphic demonstrations or repetitions on subject the reader will be capable to know or mimic it.

Task 1.3- Theoretical Paper 2

Leveraging Green IT: Practice and Principles, San Murugesan, 2018, Carnegie Mellon University This article is about IT and how IT promotes the greenhouse effects moreover pollution. It exhibits and clarifies measurements around a few parts of IT, regardless of whether it's simply the PC in the terms of intensity use or warmth age, or the worker and server farm and equipment issues in the foundation. This article keeps on clarifying and propose different strategies to take care of the issue of IT contamination, just as how we can improve green natural assurance advancements for the future (Hicks and Kettner, 2017). It proposes three Rs: reusing, reusing and restoring equipment. There are no issues suspended in this article, however the objectives and suggestions for accomplishing the objectives are obviously recorded and expressed

The exploration point is intriguing and significant. Truth be told, as an IT individual, the vast majority of the primary concerns have just been actualized in the affiliation. Such force alternative can arrange and diminish number of the physical serve to virtual workers.

I discovered exploration honestly or unquestionably significant, albeit a couple of the insights and information given don't give a source. For example, on page 2: Every PC in use produces around one ton of Co2 every year (Haider and Sivaselvan, 2016).

I think entire subject is good anyway I think it has no issues. The exploration technique is chiefly done by the Internet, and acquaints perusers with numerous Internet attractions and web journals. In spite of the fact that these methods give numerous understanding or data, it doesn't give careful realities or information to help a given date sadly, it is extremely unlikely to clarify the examination. Be that as it may, perusers can expect from the papers finished on the Internet. Subjective examination was done adequately, yet quantitative investigation was not acceptable. Sadly, toward the finish of this article there is no decision about current realities of the issue, in any case through the paper, there are arrangements and proposals for this point. To the extent the utilization of the graphical UI is concerned, the work performed well in addition information data gave is simple and clear to know (Kaiser, 2019). It passes a message to peruser well. However, unfortunately, for a couple of numbers, no source or number is shown.

The structure of the paper is also good, but the use of graphics and tables overlaps with the written materials. I had thought that it would be better if the source was used to name the table and placed at the end of the text. In such cases, terms and symbols are fully explained, such as RoHS, although in several cases, IT is explained.

There are no statistical data or sources of the information to support claims, such as carbon emissions (Kimple, 2018).

I find this topic very relevant and significant to nowadays norms and global concerns. Despite the lack of much information, the information provided in this article is very rich. Additionally, there is the no conclusion at the end of this article. Nevertheless this does cover each of the problems related to the topic.

Task 1.4- White Paper 1

Article title: Seven Necessary Conditions for Successful B2B Digital Transformation The white paper by (Ann McGlinchey, Binns and Toews, written in 2017) explains how digital e-commerce will benefit both B2C and B2B if certain standards/conversions are executed.             The heading of paper is clear, suitable for the article introduced, and abstract of the topic has been displayed correctly. In addition, the description also clarifies the purpose of this article. In terms of misunderstandings about the work of others, I have not found any errors. In fact, there is not too many a citation or citations to specify that article was written with help of the others, and to support somne suggestions or assumptions. Additionally, I did not see some specific statistics and a detailed calculation to support the hypothesis of success of B2B digital e-commerce claimed in this article (McGlinchey et al., 2017). Even if the discussion is relevant, it seems to me to be unilateral. Such as, it ignores the advantages of online shopping, however there is no indication that the legal and judicial component of the digital B2B and taxes that customer must pay. Such as, if a consumer purchases goods online from county different from their country, the customer should pay taxes on receiving end.

This tax generally based on county where the resident is located and may make the product more costly than the product purchased in the local store. This can be deciphered as a modest representation of the truth of the legitimate realities about advanced B2B or B2C online exchanges. Another factor that is thought little of is the additional expense of executing every one of these focuses for a superior and progressively effective computerized B2B organization. For instance, the expense of actualizing and keeping up omni-channel client assistance implies that you should recruit and train workers, which will add more expenses to the organization.

Task 1.5 White Paper 2

This article was written by two senior consultants working for FitForCommerce in January 2017 (Senior Vice President Kathy Kimple and Senior Vice President Steve Jones). Fit for Commerce is a leading consulting company that helps businesses, multi-channel retailers and manufacturers developing their online retail business? In this article, the author's principle is to clarify and point out how retailer can build their digital organizational structure in order to utilize technology to take advantage of their advantages, so as to achieve maximum success with limited resources. They recommend the use of technology and tools and work processes for structural design, so that relevant teams can effectively carry out work and communicate (Kimple and Jones, 2018). The abstract and abstract of this article are correct, clear and appropriate, and represent article in the accurate form. The point is obvious in the preface. Unfortunately, people have misunderstood what shoppers think and want, and it has become popular to some extent. Most of the shoppers are looking for bargain. Of course, they need to obtain the requested products as soon as possible, but the priority products are those that have a brand name and are cheaper than the store, especially if you buy online.

In the paper (paragraph 1 of page 4), it is certain that “consumers can only see themselves as well as the brand” (Kimple and Jones, 2018), or there is a no fact or data to support this hypothesis or some survey outcome. In fact, people may argue or assume that consumers will only see bargain. The conversation in this article is very relevant furthermore only covers a few significant aspects of topic, for successful retailers. Such as, there are no political, environmental, social and geographic signs that affect business functions and success (Tolga et al., 2017). The only statement is about cooperation, understanding of the team, collaboration and organizational structure, which is not sufficient to make the company successful. There is the no indication of ROI.

In addition, there is no experimental method to explain or experience, if any, there is no indication that it is only recommended to implement agile methods (Mayer, 2016).

Task 1.6 Webinar

The webinars you are going to see is introduced by Greg Sandler, leader of ThinkGlobal.

ThinkGlobal.com means to advance potential client age, worldwide systems administration and deals of little and medium-sized organizations with under 500 representatives in all fields of the world (ThinkGlobal Inc, 2018). Developed by a team of experienced international business experts, ThinkGlobal.com enables importers and exporters to use digital video, mobile web applications, cloud computing, and the technologies to find new distributors, sellers or buyers for imports manufacturers and exporters create a level playing field”.

This webinar is about Alibaba, China's biggest Internet e-commerce.

There are a five X three-minute (15-minute) webcasts, or the discussion focuses on:

Introduction to Alibaba

The future of Alibaba

Alibaba flagship service

About top four managers of Alibaba Group

Lastly, what are the threats of this business?

The introduction is isolated into a few productive short parts. I believe it's insightful to do as such, in light of the fact that the typical long and baffling introductions won't make the crowd exhausted and lose intrigue. This is extremely valuable, clear and reasonable data, and depicts the right focuses that are significant and supportive however sadly, on the grounds that there is no dependable information source, for specific figures and measurements. For instance, when the mediator discusses the organization's situation in piece of the pie income, there is no hard proof to show where these numbers originate from. The speaker will in general stay nonpartisan, which is fine, or just gives information and realities, and as referenced prior, he made the central matters, which will empower audience members to set up more associations with the organization (Hage, 2012).Such as, he explained which top management is and their history, thereby making the audience and the company more connected.

The presenter provided and explained the threats, but did not mention the completion of the competitor or the company before it was completed. He said that the buyer may face risks in case the security of the account and the details of the credit card were stolen in case the account was stolen. . All in all, presentation is structured very well.

Link to the first video

http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.thinkglobal.com/media/video/webcast/137/hd/alibaba01_edit01.mp4.mp4

Link to the second video

http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.thinkglobal.com/media/video/webcast/138/hd/alibaba02_edit01.mp4.mp4

Link to the third video

http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.thinkglobal.com/media/video/webcast/139/hd/alibaba03_edit01.mp4.mp4

Link to the fourth video

http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.thinkglobal.com/media/video/webcast/140/hd/alibaba04_edit01.mp4.mp4

Task 2. Moral, Social and Legal issues of IS

In this section of the work, I want to converse the moral, social and legal issues of IS. How important information is as well as how it can be manipulated to political elites. On an Internet website, I came across an article written by Pompeu Fbra University’s Professor of Philosophy, entitled: Beware of Digital Populism (the new populist brand, whose political program is direct Based on political power) social media should scare us all (Hicks and Kettner, 2017). He suggested in this article that because data analysis companies like Cambridge Analytica are committed to helping right-wing parties and affect their votes, future of the old democratic election system is at risk. In some countries, such as Brazil, Hunger and the Philippines, data manipulation methods that have benefited right-wing populists have been seen. It seems that Cambridge Analytica, Aggregate has perfected prediction methods and voter behavior to influence its voting.

In other article in Guardian, I come across an article that pointed out Zabara’s exact claim that Cambridge Analytica helps the Trump campaign win US election (Hicks and Kettner, 2017). A videotape on the Guardian website explains the direct participation or manipulate of the Cambridge Analytica to enable US President Donald Trump to win election.

https://youtu.be/krY8DW3V2NU

To read the whole articles use these links:

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/beware-digital-populism-200207150123445.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/23/leaked-cambridge-analyticas-blueprint-for-trump-victory

Task 3- Data Center

As part of the mid-term mission of the IS module, I decided to converse the data center and make a small film to show how the data center looks in reality. I decided to converse Datacentre as it’s part of a broad IS concept in which software and hardware are maintained and preserved, moreover most significantly, dates are stored, used, and shared for various IS activities (Kaiser, 2019). That is, decision-making, and ERP.

What is Data Centre?

According to the academic works (Tekin, 2017), data centers can accommodate computing power, storage / hardware, applications / software, and networks. Support for software and hardware in the data center has been considered a valuable asset for organizations and industries, moreover at same time expensive (Hakansson, Pitwon, Tekin and Pelros, 2017), although the data center has also been attacked by the green movement and consumed for maintenance. A large amount of energy has been criticized. There are a lot of the articles in the data center energy competence plan, for which a lot of energy is wasted to power physical servers furthermore their cooling systems. As you recognize, servers generate loads of heat, or there is a cooling system in the data center, especially to reduce the temperature, so green data center architecture is needed.

Describe the typical data center design is not easy, because each organization or company has its own structure and design according to their requirements (Hakansson, 2017).

When designing some data center, certain general factors should be carefully considered and applied.

Due to data security, location of data center should be very carefully selected so that no unauthorized personnel can access it, and it cannot be accessed in the event of a natural disaster (such as an earthquake, flood, and even fire).

Most of the data center architectures must have increased floors to provide a space for wiring moreover air cooling systems as component of several business standards, which were initially aimed at complying with network equipment construction standards (NEBS) ( Tekin, Pitwon, Hakansson) developed in the telecommunications environment, and Pelros, 2017). The depth of this space should be 80-100 cm, and there should be removable panels on the floor so that cables can be used.

The data center must be secured by fire extinguishing system using chemical agents (N2), which will not harm the server in the event of a fire.

Store and lock the server rack.

The future of physical Data Centres!

As the literature and research show, people attach great importance to the migration from physical data centers and physical servers to virtual server maintain in cloud services, so that organizations can benefit from cost-effectiveness and have green IT. That being said, there are problems with the cloud data centers (IAAS, PAAS). One example is information privacy (Selvan and Haider, 2016), who will have access to the server on cloud moreover the date of hosting on that date Will be hosted Such as, organizations (IAEA, WHO, WTO) are reluctant to let anyone access their secret data once they access the cloud.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has decided to keep part of its data center to store private information on the premises, while the rest is not in the cloud. For us (WTO), we are looking for alternative products other than Amazon or Microsoft, and the US government and other countries can access these data from their Cloud Services.

Conclussion

An IS is ubiquitous, it’s related to data, as well as converts/processes the data into quality data (accessible, correct, economical, complete, reliable, relevant, flexible, safe, easy, or verifiable as well as timely). We have a useful point. All quality data components should be collected, distributed, stored or processed. This can be achieved through CBIS (Computer-based IS), which consists of software, hardware, databases, networks, and personnel.

References

Buyya, R. and Wu, C., 2015. Cloud Data Centers And Cost Modeling. 1st ed. Morgan Kaufmann, p.848.

Dubin, R., 1978. Theory building. [online] Available at: <https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11574760?selectedversion=NBD1114459> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Hage, J., 2012. The Deontic Furniture of the World: An Analysis of the Basic Concepts that Embody Normativity. SSRN Electronic Journal,.

Hicks, M. and Kettner, C., 2017. Beware the Hype of Digital Publishing. Chemistry International, 39(3).

Kaiser, B., 2019. Leaked: Cambridge Analytica's blueprint for Trump victory. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/23/leaked-cambridge-analyticas-blueprint-for-trump-victory> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Kimple, K., 2018. Advantages of aligning organizational design, technologies, tools and work processes to empower internal teams. [online] Available at: <https://www.fitforcommerce.com/items/whitepaper-digital-commerce-success/.> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Siva and Haider, 2016. onfidentiality Issues in Cloud Computing and countermeasures. A Survey. In: National Conference on Emerging Computer Paradigms, [online] Available at: <https://eprints.manipal.edu/146699/> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Spafford, G., 2009. Greening The Data Center: Opportunities For Improving Data Center Energy Efficiency. Governance Publishing, p.58.

Tekin, T., Pleros, N., Pitwon, R. and Hakansson, A., 2016. Optical Interconnects For Data Centers. 1st ed. Woodhead Publishing, p.428.

ThinkGlobal.inc, 2018. ThinkGlobal. [online] Available at: <https://www.think.global/main/about#.XuczGabhXio> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Toews, T., Binns, W. and McGlinchey, A., 2017. Seven Imperatives for B2B Digital Transformation Success. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjsyImwtoPqAhUt4XMBHU7_AHEQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fitforcommerce.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2FFitForCommerce-Whitepaper-37_B2B-Digital-Transformation-Oct-2017.pdf&usg=AOvVaw01n5sUrBahYd2IC4cmLeeY> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

Weber, R., 2012. Evaluating and Developing Theories in the Information Systems Discipline. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13(1), pp.1-30.

Zabala, S., 2020. Beware of digital populism. [online] Available at: <https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/beware-digital-populism-200207150123445.html> [Accessed 15 June 2020].

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A DIGITAL INNOVATION BLOG POST

Introduction

The world is continuously evolving so does digital technologies, researchers and scientists are coming up with new innovations that are capable enough to change and support business applications and operations. This blog sheds lights of quantum computing and how it is going to improve business operation. Quantum computing is expected to become the next generation of high performance computers.

What is quantum computing?

Quantum computing is one of the most innovative emerging technologies that the world is going to witness. This technology is going to overcome each and every limitation of transistors based computers. The processors of computers are made of several million transistors and this technology is going to replace transistors by qubitz. The computers based on transistors are relied on binary bits encoding which is 0 and 1. As per the view of Linke et al. (2017), qubitz have different operation properties when compared to transistors and the state of qubitz is superposition. This innovation uses the properties of quantum physics and qubitz could comprise up to two bits of binary data which is eventually called superdense coding.

Quantum computing is completely based on the quantum theory; Niels Bohr came up with the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. The theory comprised two interpretations and the quantum computing uses the second interpretation of quantum theory. The second interpretation is superposition and qubitz could be stated as electrons in the magnetic field. The interpretation focuses on the spinning behaviour of electrons and observes how the electron changes their spinning state.

Quantum computing can deliver high performance at lower energy cost when compared to the transistor based supercomputers. At the present time, quantum computing is a concept but it is going to be available for the world very soon. As per the view of Dumitrescu et al. (2018), quantum computing involves algorithm which could be used in the production machines. The business operation is going to completely changed after the release of quantum computing. Tech giants like Intel, Google and IBM are developing their own quantum computers for gaining competitive advantage

Why is quantum computing essential for business organisations?

Cryptography

Quantum computing composes advanced cryptography which makes data sharing more secure. The transistor based computer does not have strong encryption and the data could be easily decrypted by using different tools. According to Steeb and Hardy (2018), quantum computing makes the decryption too trivial and leads to stronger protection. The companies are going to break the traditional encryption at a much faster rate.

Data Analytics

Quantum computers are capable are solving problems and numerical at a large scale. As per the view of Brandl et al. (2016), quantum computing is going to enhance the topological analysis which is the study of geometric shapes. Data management is going to be enhanced through quantum computing. The business organisations are going to acquire, store, protect and process data more adequately. The real estate companies could use quantum computing for architectural and designing purpose.

Pattern Matching and Forecasting

Quantum computing finds pattern in data at a much faster rate and stores the previous data in the memory for predicting future patterns. As stated by Chen et al. (2016), the business organisation could easily predict their sales, growth and revenue by using quantum computing. The business organisation could also understand the possible outcome of external and internal changes through quantum computing. Volkswagen is currently working on quantum computing to inform people about the traffic in advance.

Supply Chain

Quantum computers could be integrated with any other technologies and machinery so the production department is going to witness a great improvement after the release of quantum computers. Machine learning and artificial intelligence is being currently used in the supply chain and these technologies could be integrated with quantum computers.

What are the impacts of quantum computing?

Quantum computing has become a great deal for researchers and tech giants as the companies wants to invest in quantum computing to utilise its benefits. Quantum computing is going to create a great impact on the IT Companies as well as venture capitals. As suggested by Childs (2017), quantum computing is going to become the future as it provides a much better performance and lower energy consumption. The industries and business organizations have understood the importance and benefits of quantum computing. Companies are investing huge amount of money on their research and development programs so they could utilise the quantum computing benefits.

Rationale

Quantum computing has absorbed enormous resources and has promised too much to offer, quantum computing has not been to deliver a great deal until now in practical terms. Numerous experiments and researches have been going on for a long time over quantum computing but quantum computers have not been used in any industries till now. The rationale of investing in quantum computing is impeccable as the innovation has not displayed any practical integration or benefits. Theoretically, quantum computers work much faster than traditional transistor based computers and quantum computers are capable enough to solve impossible problems.

The business organisations need to think before investing in quantum computing as it is a scientific phenomenon. The problems of engineering are formidable and quantum computing is based on entanglement and superposition. As stated by Bäuml and Azuma (2017), quantum computing is going to come with numerous opportunities and benefits not only for the business sector but for the entire world. The main question is about the implemententaitoon and the official release of quantum computing. The components and other costing of quantum computer is very high so how small business organisations are going to obtain quantum computers. Quantum computer is going to be worth the money, time and hard work invested in it and how long the world needs to wait for witnessing the practical use of a quantum computer.

Conclusion

Quantum computer is going to be the future and it is considered one of the most innovative and complex technology that is going to be released soon. Quantum computing holds the capability of completely changing the business operation as the quantum computing comes with lots of opportunities and benefits. The industries and business organisations are spending huge amount of money on the quantum computing research.

Reference List

Bäuml, S. and Azuma, K., (2017). Fundamental limitation on quantum broadcast networks. Quantum Science and Technology, 2(2), p.024004.

Brandl, M.F., Van Mourik, M.W., Postler, L., Nolf, A., Lakhmanskiy, K., Paiva, R.R., Möller, S., Daniilidis, N., Häffner, H., Kaushal, V. and Ruster, T., (2016). Cryogenic setup for trapped ion quantum computing. Review of Scientific Instruments, 87(11), pp.113-203.

Chen, L., Chen, L., Jordan, S., Liu, Y.K., Moody, D., Peralta, R., Perlner, R. and Smith-Tone, D., (2016). Report on post-quantum cryptography. US Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. 4(2). pp. 236-451.

Childs, A.M., (2017). Quantum computing: Quantum advantage deferred. Nature Physics, 13(12), p.1148.

Dumitrescu, E.F., McCaskey, A.J., Hagen, G., Jansen, G.R., Morris, T.D., Papenbrock, T., Pooser, R.C., Dean, D.J. and Lougovski, P., (2018). Cloud quantum computing of an atomic nucleus. Physical review letters, 120(21), p.210-501.

Linke, N.M., Maslov, D., Roetteler, M., Debnath, S., Figgatt, C., Landsman, K.A., Wright, K. and Monroe, C., (2017). Experimental comparison of two quantum computing architectures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(13), pp.3305-3310.

Steeb, W.H. and Hardy, Y., (2018). Problems and solutions in quantum computing and quantum information. World Scientific Publishing Company. 2(1). pp. 65-78.

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Data Management & Visualization week 1 Assignment.

Step 1:

The Data set I will be using for this assignment comes from the U.S.     National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC datafile .csv)

Step 2: Variables

A. Nicotine Dependence variables:

TAB12MDX: NICOTINE DEPENDENCE IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

TABP12MDX: NICOTINE DEPENDENCE PRIOR TO THE LAST 12 MONTHS

TABLIFEDX: NICOTINE DEPENDENCE - LIFETIME

B. Smoking Behavior variables:

CHECK321: CIGARETTE SMOKING STATUS

CHECK321: CIGARETTE SMOKING STATUS

S3AQ3C1: USUAL QUANTITY WHEN SMOKED CIGARETTES

C. Alcohol consumption variables:

CONSUMER: DRINKING STATUS (Current drinker; Ex-drinker; Lifetime abstinence)

Step 3: My topics; research questions (RQ); hypotheses and literature review follows. 

I. TOPIC I: Cigarette smoking and Nicotene Dependence:

Literature Review for Topic I:

Despite the negative health consequences of smoking, approximately 23% of adults in the United States are daily tobacco smokers and approximately 13% are nicotine dependent (Berrettini and Lerman, 2005). Miller and Gold (1998) observed that approximately 400,000 annual death are associated with cigarette smoking. According to Cinciripini et.al. (1998), cigarette smoking is the greatest preventable cause of cancer, accounting for at least 30% of all cancer deaths. Why do people continue to smoke despite public knowledge of the effect? Berrettini and Lerman (2005; pg. 1441) opined that “factors that facilitate continuation of smoking probably involve a complex interaction between aversive and rewarding influences of nicotine”. The primary rewarding factor in tobacco is nicotine and it is the compound that establishes and maintains tobacco use (Kessler et. al., 1997; USDHHS, 1988). It also explains why most persons who smoke regularly (daily for at least 1 month) develop nicotine dependence (Breslau et. al., 2001; Shiffman et. al., 1994). Regular smoking typically begins in adolescence (Rojas et. al., 1998; Woolf, 1997; Kessler et. al., 1997; and Prokhorov et. al., 1996). Regular smoking was observed to lead to nicotine dependence (Breslau et. al., 2001). Oliver George a biologist from the TSRI laboratory explained that nicotine activates certain “reward” neurons in the brain–giving positive reinforcement to keep smoking. Given this literature, it is my view that statistical analyses of the NESARC data will show that nicotine dependence is positively associated with smoking behavior. Search terms: nicotine (exposure, consumption, addiction, compulsion), smoking etc. (Please see references below). (Please see references below).

Research Question 1: Is nicotine dependence associated with smoking behavior (i.e. status; frequency; and   quantity)?

Hypotheses 1: Nicotine dependence will significantly increase with smoking behavior

II. TOPIC II: Alcohol drinking status and Nicotine Dependence:

Literature Review for Topic II.

Why is it difficult for smokers to quit drinking and vice versa? A 2015 finding by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute provided insights into this issue (NewsRx, 2015). Using rat models, the scientists observed that nicotine exposure promotes alcohol addiction. Although the neurons activated by each of nicotine and alcohol are different, a combination of nicotine and alcohol were found to activate a unique group of neurons, giving positive reinforcement to continue alcohol and nicotine use. Although the research explicitly showed that nicotine use increases compulsive alcohol consumption, I opine that since a combination of both substances excite a unique group of neurons, alcohol use will have similar effect on nicotine consumption, hence current drinkers would have a significantly higher dependence on nicotine than ex-drinkers and lifetime non-drinkers in that order (i.e. current drinker > ex-drinker > lifetime abstinence).Search terms: nicotine (exposure, consumption, addiction, compulsion), smoking, alcohol exposure, consumption, addiction, compulsion). etc.  (Please see references below).

Research Question 2: Is nicotine dependence different across categories of alcohol consumption (i.e. current drinker; ex-drinker; and lifetime abstinence)?

Hypothesis 2: There will be a significant difference in nicotine dependence across different status of alcohol consumption (i.e. current drinker > ex-drinker > lifetime abstinence)

References:

Berrettini, W.H. & Lerman, C.E. (2005). Pharmacotherapy and Pharmacogenetics of Nicotine Dependence. The American J. of Psychiatry. Vol. 162.8 (Aug. 2005) pg. 1441-51

Breslau, N., Johnson, E.O., Hiripi, E., Kessler, R. (2001). Nicotine dependence in the United States: prevalence, trends, and smoking persistence. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001; 58:810-816.

Cinciripini, P., Gritz, E.R., Tsoh, J.Y., Skaar, K.L. (1998). Smoking cessation and cancer prevention: current treatment recommendations, in Psycho-oncology. Edited by Holland J. New York, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp 27-44.

Kessler, D.A., Natanblut, S.L., Wilkenfeld, J.P., Lorraine, C.C., Mayl, S.L., Bernstein, I.B., Thompson, L. (1997). Nicotine addiction: a pediatric disease. J Pediatr 1997; 130:518-524.

Miller, N.S., & Gold, M.S., (1998). Comorbid cigarette and alcohol addiction: epidemiology and treatment. J Addict Dis 1998; 17:55-66

NewsRx Health, 2015. Alcoholism; TSRI scientists find that nicotine use increases compulsive alcohol consumption. Retrieved 10/31/15 from: http://reddog.rmu.edu:2056/docview/1674994944/abstract/CD312C86B0F847A2PQ/6?accountid=28365

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